Long‐term music adjuvant therapy enhances the efficacy of sub‐dose antiepileptic drugs in temporal lobe epilepsy

Abstract

Aims Noninvasive music adjuvant therapy shows great potential in improving seizure control when combined with routine antiepileptic drugs. However, the diversity of previous music protocols has resulted in disparate outcomes. The optimized protocol and features for music adjuvant therapy are still not fully understood which limits its feasibility. Methods By applying different regimens of music therapy in various temporal lobe epilepsy models, we evaluated the effect of music in combination with sub‐dose drugs on epileptic seizures to determine the optimized protocol. Results A subgroup of kindled mice that were responsive to music adjuvant therapy was screened. In those mice, sub‐dose drugs which were noneffective on kindled seizures, alleviated seizure severity after 12 h/day Mozart K.448 for 14 days. Shorter durations of music therapy (2 and 6 h/day) were ineffective. Furthermore, only full‐length Mozart K.448, not its episodes or other music varieties, was capable of enhancing the efficacy of sub‐dose drugs. This music therapeutic effect was not due to increasing cerebral drug concentration, but instead was related with the modulation of seizure electroencephalogram (EEG) spectral powers in the hippocampus. Conclusion These results indicate that long‐term full‐length Mozart K.448 could enhance the anti‐seizure efficacy of sub‐dose drugs and may be a promising noninvasive adjuvant therapy for temporal lobe epilepsy.

Complementary and alternative medicine for treating epilepsy in China: A systematic review

“…As early as more than 2200 years ago, the view of “five‐tone therapy for diseases” was put forward in the Inner Canon of Huangdi. Xu et al found that Mozart K.448 adjuvant therapy combined with different sub‐dose ASMs can alleviate seizure severity in temporal lobe epilepsy models and the therapeutic effect was related to the modulation of seizure electroencephalogram (EEG) spectral powers in the hippocampus 71 . A randomized controlled clinical trial found that children in the intervention group who were given Mozart K.448 for eight minutes once daily before bedtime for at least six months had a significantly lower seizure recurrence rate (p = 0.0109) and their EEG discharge also improved significantly after 2 years 72 .…”

Music prevents stress-induced depression and anxiety-like behavior in mice

“…Previous animal studies have suggested that music alleviates pain and improves social behaviors under various pathophysiological conditions [46][47][48][49]. In addition, it has been reported that music adjuvant therapy enhances the efficacy of antiepileptic drugs in various temporal lobe epilepsy models [46].…”

Digital Therapeutics for Improving Effectiveness of Pharmaceutical Drugs and Biological Products: Preclinical and Clinical Studies Supporting Development of Drug + Digital Combination Therapies for Chronic Diseases

“…A promising DTx "active ingredient" for epilepsy is specific music [280,281,[296][297][298][299][300][301], and the clinical effects were also reproduced in preclinical studies [23,302,303]. Xu and colleagues showed that exposure of TLE mice to a specific music composition enhanced the anti-seizure activity of sub-effective doses of valproic acid or levetiracetam [303].…”